The Great and Powerful
by The-Plot-Thinens
Summary: Au universe. The Doctor is the only son of Rassilon to survive the Time War. Rassilon and his remaining Time Lords have made Earth their new home at the protest of the Doctor and the humans. 100 plus years later a lonely Time Lord meets a shopgirl, their relationship stands to turn both their worlds on its head. Can the Doctor keep their relationship a secret from his father?
1. Chapter 1

**The Great and Powerful**

by The Plot Thinens

Part I

* * *

Lord Rassilon, "the great and powerful", was one of the many names his human and humanoid subjects were required to call him. Ever since the end of the great time war with the Dalek Empire, the Earth has been an annexation of the Gallifreyan Empire. This empire was grand in size and reached out to many galaxies throughout space. Hardly any planet worth mentioning was not under Gallifreyan rule by the Time Lords. It is unquestioned expect for maybe a little. The only thing that stood in the way of the unquestioned greatness of Rassilon and his Time Lords was the single fact that they had no home planet after the war. That had been unexpectedly destroyed to rid the universe of the Dalek plague.

No planet, no matter what level, even a level five planet, was ignorant of the chaos going on in space. Battles in space were held over every galaxy and planet throughout the universe it seemed. Some under developed worlds would write epic poems about the hell they had managed to survive that would live on in religious text. Others would know too well what was going on and would quake in free. Then there were others that would act in fear.

After the war, despite the loss of Gallifrey, no other civilization or species left in the galaxy was more powerful than the Time Lords and their military. The Time Lords, in their arrogance, deemed that it was their right to take the spoils of war and pick a new planet to inhabit as home base in exchange for having saved the universe. Lord Rassilon could have had any number of planets to choose from that had more technology to start with as a base for his new civilization, but one planet stood out. The only one besides Skaro that he felt needed to be made an example of. 

* * *

In their ape-ish ignorance, some of the humans on this planet had been fooled by the Daleks into believing that the Time Lords were, in fact, the real threat on the galaxy. That it was the Daleks trying to save the universe from destruction. That Rassilon's diplomatic, but still arrogant manner was a facade for the true menace the Time Lords presented. And if only the humans would join forces with the Daleks would humanity be saved. These foolish humans in their fear had thought that they would avoid the wrath of Rassilon by betraying him. Quite frankly he had been amazed that the simple minded Daleks had been able to last that long enough without exterminating their allies. The humans had worked without fail to assist the Daleks in their plan. This boiled down to an assassination attempt on Rassilon. It had been almost successful except for one factor. They had ended up killing the wrong person. Rassilon had sent his son, Theta, whom called himself, The Doctor, to the diplomatic mission with the human's primitive United Nations, in a request to station a repair 'shipyard' over the Earth's orbit. Rassilon had thought it ridiculous to have to ask the permission of a tiny species that didn't even have an adequate means to reject the request, but The Doctor had been insistent. He had admired the human culture and was an avid study of its history before the war. Not only that, but the Earth was in a remote enough galaxy that there was very little chance that any activity from any more advance civilization would not go unrecognized. There were also a few rare metals that could be borrowed from the Earth and the human's moon too. Rassilon had easily agreed to let his son go in his place. If his son wanted to humor the knuckle draggers than it was fine with him. 

* * *

The day of the meeting went on well enough, there was the usual pomp and circumstance, but then things went wrong. The bomb went off and leveled most of the island of Manhattan and with it New York City. When Rassilon had found his son by TNA transmit he was barely alive. Most of his organs and bones were crushed. He had lived by what some might call a miracle alone. Like all of the UN leaders, gone were his long brown locks, his eccentric human looking Victorian apparel or what was left of it were melted into his skin. He would be dead soon, or would be dead, if not for the telltale signs of regeneration taking course in his charred body. In a fire of golden light his son regenerated and was reborn, but not as he was before. His long brown hair was now black and cropped extremely short. His eyes still blue were now haunted and angry. He looked older now, not older than his father but not more than 20 years younger than Rassilon in appearance. His nose and ears were also a sight. He was ugly.

* * *

When The Doctor had become fully aware of what had just happened, he was devastated by the loss of friends and the historic city of Earth by the Daleks. He was angry and his father found a way to put that anger of his to use. Rassilon had discovered his son's killers and they had been taken care of, and the leader of the Time Lords would forever hold a distrust of the primitive humans. This was more the reason to keep an eye on them. The Doctor had even found the Daleks still on Earth and had destroyed them. Rassilon would almost say he was proud of his son. Gone seemed to be the peacemaker and now here was the warrior and general he needed to aid him in his war for creation. Gone were the bright flamboyant clothing in exchange for utilitarian looking clothing and leather that was all black. The Doctor fought every battle just to kill a few more Daleks. There were never enough dead Daleks for him. The Doctor had performed every task asked of him with no feeling of remorse. That was until the unthinkable day, when he had to choose between Gallifrey and universe. Rassilon had not been there on Gallifrey at the time, he had been off in another galaxy inspecting what was left of the TARDIS fleet. The planet had been left very under protected. A tactical blunder of logistics, when it appeared every Dalek in the universe was attacking. Their numbers were many and much more than ever even conceived. Once they left this planet dead, for the defenses were falling fast, then they would go out into the universe and do the same to every planet they could. Even the Time Lord army wasn't that big. That was when The Doctor, the man who had chosen that name originally because he wanted to make people better, had to make a decision. Set off an ultimate weapon and take Gallifrey and all the Daleks with it. Or risk dying fighting it out and have the Daleks threaten the Galaxy with no sizeable army left to stop them. With a heavy heart, he had opted to take the Daleks with him and his planet. Only it had not turned out that way. Somehow, he had survived and he didn't know how. He had been found floating in space where Gallifrey once was in a barely functioning TARDIS. His father had been angry.

* * *

The Doctor was the only witness left, so the remaining Time Lords were left to form their own opinions about his survival. Some called him a coward, other's a hero, and other's a murderer. It was only who his father was that saved him from any penalties for what he had done from the other Time Lords. He suffered though, oh how the Doctor suffered at his own mind's hands for his crimes. Rassilon, he had been angry with his son but for the reasons that he was denied being the one to lead the battle to victory no matter what the cost was. For that he would always be bitter to his son.

But that for now was in the past. Rassilon had a planet to pick for himself and his remaining Time Lords and that new home for the Time Lords was now Earth. He guessed that in a sense the Daleks had been right about him, but it was the humans who had forced his hand, not the other way around. But it was not the injury of his son that had left Rassilon vengeful; it was the impudence of the humans for thinking that they could stop him with such a tiny weapon. That they would dare turn on the Time Lords. That they would damage the image of the immortal and indestructible Time Lords. That was what bothered him most. They needed to be made an example, if one of your species betrays us, than you all do. 

* * *

It was swift and without much effort that the Time Lord's took over the Earth and its many governments and countries. The only thing that had saved the humans from possible eradication was the Doctor. He loved the Earth and its many peoples and when the suggestion of just eradicating the dominate species on the planet came to the table; the Doctor had made argument against it.

"I didn't destroy the Daleks just so that we could all become like them. Leave that horror to me and don't go down such a path. It is not by any means pleasant." Roared the Doctor in his Northern Earth sounding accent that offended some of the other Time Lord's more refine ears.

"He's gone native." Grumble one of the high councilors in responds. Eventually sanity won out and the subjugation of the human race was considered an alternative. The Doctor did not like this idea either and wanted the humans left alone and for them to find another planet. However, in this he was voted out even by his own father. He wanted to punish the species that would dare try to defy him and would ally themselves to the Daleks.

"You are lumping the good with the bad! That was only a small group of scared humans. Have mercy and leave them to develop in peace!" Begged the Doctor on the human's behalf since no representative was even invited to attend this summit on the subject of what was to become of Earth.

"Regardless of your feelings for these monkeys, Doctor, my decision is final. The humans will be made an example of. You should congratulate yourself that you have at least convinced me to spare the lives of your killer's species." Announced Rassilon, the last part said rather sarcastically. That had been 150 years ago. Humanity has been under the control of the Time Lords for so long that although it was 'resented' it was more or less accepted as the way things were. No living memory of life before the Time Lords existed on Earth was around anymore. The Time Lords control everything, media, education, transportation, natural resources, manmade resources and Time Lord made resources. As a result the technology that humans had access to was sadly outdated by comparison to the Time Lords. The Time Lords had a standing army and thanks to their technology law enforcement was handled by one department of Time Lords who control the robots that patrolled the streets and kept the piece. A few positions in law enforcement were available to humans but none that required them to have firearms. 

* * *

Rassilon sat on his thrown of power, undisputed, so far. The Daleks were a fading memory and all but a myth. His only troubles were with the occasional commercial argument with other alien civilizations from time to time, and his son most of the time. After the war his son became a recluse. He would not come to banquets or participate in any events involving Time Lord Politics or government. Because of his reclusive and reluctance to engage in any Time Lord operation, most humans had never even seen him or at least knew they had seen him. In fact probably the last time he was seem for who he was, was on the day he regenerated. But since Rassilon was all but immortal, what did it matter if no one saw his son or not? It certainly didn't imply weakness. At least not in the humans' eyes. 

* * *

The Doctor had never stopped feeling guilt for what he had done his own TARDIS reminded him of that every day. Not by her choice though. She had been horribly damaged by the Time War and in a form of silent protest; the remaining TARDIS repairmen had refused to service his barely alive ship. They knew it was dangerous to do so, but the Doctor, having killed off most of the TARDISes did not put up a fight with them. He only worried what they might do to his TARDIS if he had them forced to service her.

"It is an ancient model anyway. Should have been decommissioned a long time ago." The head repairman had told him bitterly, knowing that he was referring as much to his TARDIS as to the Doctor. The Doctor had not wanted another TARDIS though. This one was his oldest friend and had serviced the war with him. That having been settled, the Doctor began his 145 year task of repairing the half dead TARDIS. It had been his only comfort and distraction for so long. It was only now that he was making short trips in the TARDIS. Not in time or space like he once had, but from place to place in the same time like a shuttle. He had been able to sneak out of his father's palace undetected since the Time Lords didn't even test for the decommissioned model's energy signature anymore. This was good. Now that he was free to wander about among the humans as if he were one of them. The human's paid him no notice and no looks of hatred or pity. Just the simple joy of passing through a crowded street was wonderful after years in isolation hiding from his own kind and their judging looks. His father would have never approved of him trying to mix with the 'primitives', which was why he kept such visits quiet. Anytime a robot policeman came near he would quickly make himself disappear, either down an alley or back into his TARDIS which now had a fully functional perception filter. Though the old girls was still hopelessly stuck looking like a 1960s Earth police box, but he liked the color. Everything about this was going well that was until his TARDIS detected an abnormality in a department store called Henrik's. 

* * *

Rose Tyler was a normal everyday human. Her day started like any other. Get up, listen to whatever the bloody Time Lords had to say to the human servants on the wall monitor in every living room, then go to work and do whatever her job told her to do. She was horribly in debt, thanks to a bad break up with a man who had left her in said debt, and now she was just trying to get her life back in order. This was why the last thing she needed that night was to be chased by some unidentified alien threat in the basement of Henrik's. Rose had just wanted to handle some lottery business with her fellow employee when she noticed something off about the plastic mannequins in the basement. She did not waste time in sticking around, Rose remembered what her mother had told her over and over again as a child,

"If it seems off, it's got to be alien, so get away." Rose was doing just that but in the confusion of the chase she had gotten turned around and was now cornered with a locked door mocking her escape. As the plastic monsters bore down on her, Rose closed her eyes only to feel a cool hand grip hers. She looked up and the locked door was now open and a man was holding her hand.

"Run." He said and Rose did just that, the two ran hand in hand down the hall to the elevator and narrowly missed being grabbed by a plastic hand as the door shut.

"Are they aliens?" Rose asked her mysterious lifesaver once the doors were closed.

"Yup." The man replied. Rose accepted the information and went on to the next obvious set of questions.

"Who are they and who are you." Questioned Rose. The Doctor did not want to give himself away, he liked be mistaken for a regular human. Human company he had always preferred to his stuffy species' company.

"They're called Autons, a living plastic race. And I'm Smith…John Smith. You?"

"Rose Tyler. You some kind of alien expert?" Asked Rose as he left the elevator and ran toward the nearest exit.

"Kinda. We need to tell the Time Lords about this, so they can take care of the problem. In case it's an invasion." Noted the Doctor. Rose reached for her cell phone to call 911, which at one time had been the USA's way to call for help but now was the emergency number to call if there were invading aliens. The Doctor flinched at the idea of having the Time Lords swoop in when he was still in the building and said,

"No need for that. Got be a faster response right here." Said the Doctor as he pulled out an odd cylinder device he then used to open up the locked door. He swathe amazed look on Rose's face and replied,

"Bit of borrowed tech. Sonic Screwdriver. Opens locked doors. Calls the police undetected." He noted as he walked the two of them down an alley away from the building and next to the TARDIS. The perception filter would shield them from any Time Lords looking for him. However, the Doctor had no desire to show the TARDIS off to Rose, he just wanted to hide them. In a manner of minutes the Time Lords were on the scene and the Auton invasion was on its way to being completely stopped. The Doctor did not approve of their methods, but he didn't have the resources available to offer the Auton's an alternative to invasion. This was one of the few occasions where he wished that he had the authority to give a new planet to a desperate race like the Autons, but his father would never allow it.

Rose, having finally caught her breath, looked at the tall, dark and leather clad man and gasped out,

"I just realized. You saved me back there. Thank you." The Doctor was stunned by this remark. It had been the first 'thank you' he had received in over a century from anyone but his TARDIS. He almost didn't know what to say.

"Yeah…Guess I did. Give the man a medal." He laughed out in his thick Northern accent that he knew annoyed his father. Rose laughed too and cheered,

"Looks like we've done our part. I'm hungry how about you?" The Doctor was just so taken by just having a normal conversation with another being that didn't have a motive, that he didn't even notice her words.

"Yeah." He just said and mindless began following the woman like a puppy. Rose was saying something but the Doctor wasn't sure what. Now that they weren't running for their lives anymore, he had the time just to admire the lovely human in front of him. Except for a few things, humans looked very Time Lord. When he finally stopped admiring her face and listened to her words he found that she was quite clever and witty. She was 19 years old, obviously a bit young for him, but when you get past the age of 900, age gaps didn't matter much anymore. You could have fun talking to anyone despite their age if you had an interest in a similar subject. She clearly worked at the Henrik's they just escaped from which she hoped would still be open the next day as she needed the money. She then stopped talking abruptly as she stopped in front of a small restaurant. A Chippy.

"Well here we are." Rose said. The Doctor then looked a bit sheepish and said,

"Got no money." Rose rolled her eyes at the man,

"Well, I guess since you saved my life that the chips should be on me. Bit of a cheap date you." Rose jeered a bit with her tongue poking out the side of her smiling mouth.

"Sorry, next time I'll remember my wallet." The Doctor then realized what he said and nervously added

"Erm, not that I'm saying I'm expecting a next time. If I'm smart enough to have a sonic screwdriver than I should be smart enough to carry a wallet." The Doctor rambled mindlessly at the lovely woman. She giggled again; it was funny how this 'in charge' feeling man could be so socially inept. 

* * *

The two had their food in front of them and both began digging in. The chips were delicious. He had never actually had them before. But he didn't want to say that for risk of being found out. He really didn't want this woman to know he was actually a Time Lord. He liked the exchange that they were having as equals and if she were to know his true identity than that dynamic would change. She'd probably shrink away from him out of fear. No he was deciding that his Gallifreyan origins would remain secret and he was starting to realize with each passing moment that he liked Rose more and more. He definitely wanted to see her again, if he could only arrange it.

"So what's your story?" Asked Rose to the Doctor who looked up from his food questioningly.

"My story?" He asked.

"Yeah, what were you doing down in the basement and how did you get that bit of 'borrowed tech' as you put it?" Questioned Rose. The Doctor guessed that it was too much to hope that she wouldn't ask the noticeable questions that a gentleman like him rose. What was he going to say? He didn't want to out and out lie to her, but what other choice did he have. He supposed that lying by omission was too bad of a crime and said,

"I work as a tinker mostly, fixing things and the likes. I get my hands on borrowed tech and I use it to my advantage. I'm a bit of a genius, not to boast, but I can pretty much figure out how anything works. Some of my hobbies involve a bit of borrowed tech, nothing that's going to start a revolution, but I'd rather people not know I have it at my disposal. I've been working on one project for a long time and just happened to notice something funny while testing it out. That's how I ended up in the basement. Saw something off and went to investigate, so I guess that makes me a bit reckless too for not asking for help from the police, but then I wouldn't have found you and that would have been a tragedy in more ways than one."

"Would have definitely been a shame for both of us if you hadn't come poking around." Noted Rose, taking a sip from her drink, she didn't like that she had been seconds from death. But she got to meet this nice bloke so she guessed that it wasn't all bad.

"This was a lot of fun. We should do this again sometime." Said the Doctor, hoping it sounded smoother than he thought. Rose grinned and stated,

"What have me pay again? Sorry mate, but I'm too in debt to take dates out every night."

"You're the one calling it a date and I thought that maybe I'd be the one to pay. Wait in debt? Are you in trouble?" Asked the Doctor. Rose sighed; she didn't know why she was telling so much about herself to a stranger she just met. Well a stranger who just saved her life but a stranger none the less, but if it wasn't for him she'd be dead anyway, so what did it matter? She just got this feeling off him that he could be trusted.

"If you must know, John. My former boyfriend took the money and ran so to speak. Or rather took things and left me to pay for them.

"That's not right. You shouldn't have to pay for another man's debt." Protested the Doctor.

"Well somebody has to and that somebody, the bill collectors have determined is me." Joked Rose in a sarcastic voice. The Doctor still said it wasn't right and began to wonder if something couldn't be done about that in exchange for Rose's kindness to him. 

* * *

It was now getting late and the Doctor worried for Rose's safety returning home.

"It's rather dark out. Do you need someone to walk you home?" Asked the Doctor. Rose yawned, and replied,

"No, thanks. It's not the far, I'll be fine." The Doctor saw his window for possible companionship closing so against all odds he said in a panic,

"Um, could I give you my number? I'm pretty handy with things besides doors. If you want I could help fix a dryer or something like that if you needed it. Someone as nice as you, I wouldn't mind saving from trouble again." Rose smiled at the funny man and replied,

"Don't see why not. Never hurts to have the number of a lifesaver, thanks." The Doctor than wrote down the number to the TARDIS's phone. Human's still had to use telephone numbers. It was Time Lords who had advance communication systems. Communication methods were one of the key ways the Time Lords tried to stay on top of the humans with. So it was fortunate that his beaten up Time Ship had had one. A TARDIS nowadays wouldn't be equipped with such an outdated feature even for a novelty. They had the police and their many systems to deal with monitoring antiquated technology in the surveillance department. The two parted ways, but not before Rose gave the Doctor a thank you hug for saving her life.

"I get to go back home to my Mum tonight because of you, thank you." She smiled with genuine gratitude. As she walked away with his phone number in his hand, it was all in Rose's court now. He waved her 'goodbye' and returned to his TARDIS. The Doctor would now have to try to be good at something he never was, being patient. Being patient and seeing if the human woman he was finding himself becoming enamored with thought he was worth a call. 

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Short little story. I'm thinking of making it a three parter, but we will see. So yes, I can write a shorter story. Tell me what you think and if you want to see more? Just a little plot bunny is all.


	2. Chapter 2

The Great and Powerful

by The Plot Thinens

Part II

* * *

The Doctor was looking himself over in the foggy mirror of his TARDIS bathroom. He had just showered and his cropped hair was even more matted to his head. At least he didn't smell like engine grease anymore. The Doctor had taken the shower hoping it would distract him, but his thoughts were still on that blond woman who had walked away from him last night. He couldn't get her out of his head. He had not been this sentimental since his last regeneration.

He had spent the first couple hours after they met digging into her personal finance records. Some might equate it to online stalking, but he actually had a far nobler purpose in mind. Within minutes he had her credit history before him and indeed she owed money, not an absorbent amount, but enough to set someone back a few Earth years on a shop girl's wages. She was making regular payments and mostly on time, which told the Doctor that she was responsible at least with money matters. He imagined that if he were in debt that he would want to pay it off as quickly as possible and get on with his life. Well this matter as fair as he was concerned was easily fixed. The Doctor had started a bank account on Earth centuries ago just for fun in his time traveling days. The bank was still conducting business and that money upon looking at it again, had accumulated in quite a lot of interest. He had little to no use for most of it, and only a tiny bit would give Rose a clean slate. After a few minutes more he had transferred the needed money in her name to the allotted debtors.

"And Bob's your uncle! No more debt for Rose Tyler. She can do whatever she wants on Earth from now on." Said the Doctor to himself, wishing his darn metal dog were in the room so he didn't have to appear to be talking to himself.

Any way, it would take a few days for the payments to clear, but it would certainly be a nice surprise for the woman who had more or less helped him stop an invasion. And he did owe her for the chips. Even if she never called him, just knowing that she was out there without something as silly as money holding her down was a comfort. If he could make one person's life better it was worth it, because despite being the son of the 'Great and Powerful' Rassilon, he didn't have much say in what was done on Earth. This was probably the reason why he refused to take any responsibilities his father threw at him. Most of those responsibilities he found ethically and morally reprehensible and refusing to take part was one of his only forms of protest.

But helping Rose out was hours ago and as he toweled himself off, he was losing his patience. He tried to distract himself by considering if he should shave. It had only been twelve hours since the two had parted and he kept reminding himself that humans did need time to sleep and recover from crazy ordeals. He didn't think that he was the most attractive looking Time Lord by human standards, but he wasn't the ugliest one either. He had his charm, and Romanesque features that humans in antiquity had admired. Surely she would call to at least check up on him and then maybe they could see each other again. He thought that in the dark of night and him acting all heroic that it at least made him about a 6 or 7 in the looks department.

"Listen to me, acting like a bloody human teenager over a girl." Grumbled the Doctor to himself as he slipped a pair of boxer briefs over his bare bum and a green jumper over his bare chest. Now all he needed were trousers he thought as his pet robot dog, K-9, glided into the room.

"Master, there is a phone call waiting for you to answer in the console room." Said the little metal dog in his electronic voice.

"Shit!" Shouted the Doctor as he ran to the console room, past his robot dog and grabbed for the slim phone receiver he had attached to his console. He guessed that this conversation he would be having without trousers on. Just lovely.

"Hello." Said the Doctor a bit too loud, afraid that it might have already gone to voicemail.

"John, sorry, did I wake you? I thought you'd be up by now." Said the lovely voice of Rose over the phone. So she had been the one waiting up to call him. That gave the Doctor some needed confidence and he leaned lazily against the console regardless of lacking trousers.

"Nah, been up for hours. Not much of a sleeper me. Too much to do." He chuckled as he flipped a switch on the console that would scramble the call to any listening ears. He could never be too careful.

"You do seem the type who can't stand still too long. I wanted to thank you again for saving me. My Mum, once I told her, said she didn't want to think what might have happened to me if you hadn't stepped in and rescued me. She isn't too fond of 'off worlders', so you can imagine the things she thought up." Explained Rose to the Doctor. The Doctor let out half a gasp before he realized that Rose was not referring to him personally being an 'off worlder'. She didn't know, he had not told her. The Doctor let out a sigh, 'so much for being in good with the family.' He joked to himself, not that he was interested in domestics. He was just interested in Rose. He had not been this excited about another person in ages and that was a rare sensation that he wasn't going to let go of. He'd been too bored and too lonely for too long. He only wished that he didn't have to lie to her by omission about being a Time Lord, technically she had not asked and it could be her fault for just assuming he was human.

"I'm just glad that you're safe." Smiled the Doctor genuinely. There was some quiet over the phone. Rose wasn't sure if she should do what she had in mind. She had been hurt before by a man, but she could not get the daft older man with his big ears and blue eyes out of her head. There was the obvious chance that he was dangerous or at least what he did was dangerous and could led to some serious consequences. But she had never felt so safe with a man in the middle of chaos before and she couldn't ignore it. He excited her and something just drew her to him that she was powerless to stop. With a deep breath she ask,

"Would you like to, um, hang out with me sometime? I don't have anything planned, but there are lots of things to do around town. My job is obviously not in business at the moment and I've nothing else to do until its back to normal in a week. We could well…get to know each other better."

"I'd love to." Said the Doctor without thinking about it. He cursed himself for seeming too eager and asked,

"I mean if you are fine with it sure. Where should we meet?"

"British Museum? We could meet up front, look around and then get something to eat." Suggested Rose.

"Sure I guess you like history, hmm?" Inquired the Doctor. Rose nodded the affirmative but then felt silly since he couldn't see her and said,

"Yeah, I like looking at ancient things." The Doctor laughed,

"Good. How about today at 3pm." He was pretty ancient himself so that was a good sign.

"Great, it's a date then." Joked Rose as she agreed to the time. The two hung up and the Doctor let out a breath. Looks like he had a date today. His thoughts of how the day would go however were interrupted by his Robot Dog, K-9, once again.

"Master, Your father is outside the TARDIS and wishes to see you. Lady Romana is with him."

"Bollocks." Cursed the Doctor as he ran for his trousers.

Now dressed appropriately he opened the door and Lord Rassilon step through his police box looking doors. With a look of disgust he walked up the ramp and looked at the abomination of technology. A mixture of human and time lord technology.

"Really son, when are you going to outgrow this fixer-upper stage? It looks bad on me that my son spends his days tinkering away in this dilapidated piece of junk like a human vagabond."

"Nice to see you to, Dad." Grumbled the Doctor. Romana gave the Doctor a sympathetic look, but said nothing. She and the Doctor were not the closest of friends, but she didn't like to see him badgered by his father, but Rassilon was all powerful, so what was to be done?

Rassilon looked past the word, 'dad' and continued,

"I'd have a lot less to do, if you would take on some responsibilities for me once in a while.

"Noted, father, but I don't like your idea of responsibilities. And I think you don't have enough to do, otherwise you wouldn't be thinking about starting up new wars with the remaining planets that aren't already under our influence. You collect planets like stamps." Protested the Doctor.

"Like what's? Oh never mind. The point is that the Auton's attempt at an invasion last night, is proof that there are still some alien races out there that think we look weak. By the Stars, let us hope that this is the last we hear of Autons, splinter groups are such a nuisance. I'd rather spend our resources not defending something as pointless as a human shopping district. That galaxy, the Autons call home, we obviously haven't been leaning on strongly enough for the last 50 years, and now there are dissenters to deal with. We have a sizeable Robotic fighting force available to us, but then I hear whispers of our house relying too heavily on machines. It's a sign of weakness and a declining house to have to hire or in this case, build mercenaries. Son, I need a larger army, our house needs a larger army. You so far are the only Time Lord who has yet to fulfill his duty to add to our family's donor pool. If you won't take on any other responsibilities at least do that!" Stated Rassilon.

"You've come all this way, to bug me for grandkids, Pop?" Groaned the Doctor. Rassilon then lost his patience with his son and growled,

"I've had just about enough of you, son! I'm not dying anytime soon, but that doesn't mean we don't need to keep our numbers up in our house. We have the most members of any house and I aim to keep it that way. I have enough trouble with managing galaxies without having to worry about any Time Lord house getting uppity. We need superior militarily trained house members to send off to rule neighboring planets, a responsibility that you have yet to undergo despite thousands of offers that I have made to you to have your own planet to rule. You're mother is dead. You're my only child to survive the war. Romana is a decent candidate, loom some children with her and be done with it!" This rude last statement caught both the Doctor and Romana off guard. That had not been the reason she thought Rassilon had asked her to accompany him today. The two of them liked each other but the idea of having children together, was not exactly what the two of them had in mind for their futures. They were both very different people as far as lifestyles went. Romana was a prim and polished, courtier and politician, and he, in her eyes, a duty skirting, tinkering slob. Needless to say, they liked having each other as an ally but not as a mate. Their relationship and contact had been solely based on helping each other out where they lacked strength. She made formal excuses for him not to show his face in public and he helped her out where tinkering and thinking outside the box was required.

"I'll leave you two to converse on this." Rassilon shouted and then stormed out slamming the doors.

The two stared at each other for a moment in stunned silence.

"This is not the circumstance that I care to discuss such a manner. I will see you at a later time, Doctor." Declared Romana, who then left the TARDIS. The Doctor groaned, this was the last thing he wanted to hear out of his father right now, but it was not changing his plans and nor did he have plans to have any children. He certainly didn't think the universe they would inherit was worth living in. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wheels rolling on the grates behind him.

"Master, it is to be 3pm in seven minutes." Said K-9 to his master as he rolled in.

"What? I just spoke to Rose." Stated the Doctor, he then looked at his watch and it was indeed close to 3pm.

"The call was made while you were in the shower and bath. I froze the call's point in time with the TARDIS's limited working time circuits so that when you answered it, three rings would have only chimed, Master. Otherwise you would have missed the call hours ago."

"Bloody, couldn't have told me that sooner, K-9. Ugh! Ever heard of voice mail, you daft dog?" Groaned the Doctor as he looked to see if anyone was outside the TARDIS before dematerializing.

* * *

The Doctor pulled an electric razor out of his bigger on the inside pockets as he ran for the museum entrance. He saw Rose and her face lit up at the sight of him. He liked this, someone seeing him for who he was and not what he was. He just hoped he could keep it up.

"Clever, dressing the same, well almost the same, jumper is different. Made you easier to spot anyway, John." Grinned Rose as she walked up to the leather clad man.

"Well, I sort of dress the same most of the time. Easier that way. Hope you don't mind." Explained the Doctor a bit sheepishly.

"Not at all, it's like your superhero suit." Rose smiled as she cheekily put out her arm to loop with the Doctor. The Doctor took her up on her invitation and they walked up to the front door.

* * *

The museum had many cameras and scanners that you had to walk through first before you could even get to the exhibits. He was sure that he could get past them. He wouldn't have made the museum his first choice for that reason, but he didn't want to turn down Rose's suggestion. For now he would make every effort to just be a regular bloke out on a date with an anything but regular woman.

The Doctor got past the first hurdle of security he altered his TARDIS key's perception filter while they waited on line so that the cameras wouldn't be able to focus on him. He had laughed and joked with Rose about being probed, while the Doctor used his sonic to fiddle with the scanners and he walked past it without suspicion. That being settled the two walked into the first exhibit.

* * *

The Doctor marveled at how much things had changed inside the building since last he visited. To be fair that was probably centuries ago and some switching of the collections and renovations were to be expected. Rose pointed at the Roman Empire section and couldn't help but notice that any reference to the warrior or military culture of the exhibit was missing. There was plenty to look at but it was all art, statues, and pottery. No spears, armor or mention of Caesar to be seen. Although there were cards along all the pieces giving examples of what Time Lords had already accomplished by the time the piece was made, which kind of took the joy out of human accomplishment.

"Seems to be a few pieces missing since last I've been in here." Noted the Doctor to Rose who had been making comments about how lovely some of the pots were.  
**  
**"Really, too bad, I hope I'm not missing out on too much. I actually haven't been here since primary school, but I like watching documentaries on stuff like this…" Replied Rose before taking a huff of air and reflecting over how much time had passed.

"My Mum told me that this was one of the last places we went together before my Dad died. Sort of a family trip. Passports are tricky to get and we didn't have enough money to go to Rome, so Dad just took us to look at museum pieces here as the next best thing. My Mum and Dad were silly when they were together. I'm sorry, you must think that I'm some damaged girl the way I keep telling you all this personal stuff about me and you barely know me." Rose said apologetically.

"No, actually I'm sort of honored that you feel you can trust me that much. I want to hear about you. You fascinate me and you." The Doctor stated honestly. This person actually gave him a reason to go outside beside for TARDIS test runs. Her sunny smile and laugh were a welcome sanctuary from the harsh looks and uptightness that was the Time Lord world.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your father?" Inquired the Doctor of Rose.

"We don't know what happened to him. My Dad went to a protest rally, when I was one, and never came back. We assume he's dead. I've asked my Mum about it and what they were protesting, but she says she doesn't want to lose me too. She says I'm too much like my Dad. My Mum has always had a disliking of aliens, so I think that it might have something to do with off worlders…possibly the Time Lords." She whispered the last part conspiratorially.

The Doctor had a sneaking suspicion that it had everything to do with the Time Lords and it didn't surprise him. Most protests when they rarely occurred were stifled rather quickly by the police. He would have to look into that when he got back to the TARDIS.

* * *

The two toured the museum for about an hour and a half more until they got hungry and this time it was the Doctor that paid for the meal. Though it was a bit fancier than chips, they had Thai food. All the while the Doctor watched the lovely human, wondering if she had some kind of siren-like power that kept drawing him into her eyes. Realizing he was spending too much time looking in her eyes and smiling like an idiot, he brought his eyes back down to the table and started telling her everything he knew about the food.

Rose loved the comments he would make between bits about the history of the food that they were eating and the culture behind the food. Rose had a feeling that this man could make the phone book interesting to her if he just spoke about it. Sure he was a bit of a know-it-all, but not overbearingly so. He was educated. Unlike her last boyfriend who wasn't at all any help at quiz night at the pub. Maybe she could convince John to come along sometime and win them a few prizes, because he was certainly knowledgeable. Almost intimidatingly so, she just hoped he didn't get too bored with her too quickly. Rose didn't think herself dumb, she was street smart and a fast learner, but she had never been given the opportunity to do more with her head thanks to some bad youthful choices. Maybe one day she would get out of the tight spot she was in and make something of herself.

Rose sat back in her chair and let out a content sigh. She just couldn't believe that she had met someone so much fun to be around and he seemed to be a pretty stable guy. He was just so real and down to Earth, though a bit full of himself too, but he was such a welcomed break from the usual men she ended up getting involved with. Was that what she was doing, getting involved, was John Smith a man she could see pursuing? She was getting ahead of herself, but she had not clicked with someone like this ever before. Even her first try with love had never felt safe and all he had been was a mediocre band boy. Even in the middle of a dangerous place, she had felt safe with John. That had to mean something right, anyway they could at least be really good friends if anything. She should get to know him better first before she started thinking he was relationship material. All she knew about him was that he tinkered with things he shouldn't, went places he shouldn't, had a great smile, and a winning personality. Not too bad things to know about a man, but still there was much more to learn. The two were just about finished when the Doctor stated,

"I think I have more fun with you every time I see you." Rose blushed,

"Yeah, me too." The Doctor embolden by Rose's response than found himself asking,

"Would it be asking too much for us to do this again tomorrow? Not go to the museum, of course. I mean you and me find something fun to do together again." Rose grinned at his sudden shyness and replied,

"I already told you that I've got no work for a week. With nothing else to do, that sort of frees up my calendar. I don't have anything in mind that we could do, though…Why don't you swing by my place around noon tomorrow and we can figure something out." Before the Doctor could think better of the domestics of visiting a woman's flat, he said,

"Well, I suppose I could if I knew where you lived."

"Suppose that would be a problem. Here…" Laughed Rose as she wrote down her address on a napkin, along with her phone number. The Doctor paid for the meal as promised and the two found themselves on the street walking Rose back to the tube to take her home. The two then found themselves lingering at the tube entrance.

* * *

"I had a fantastic time with you today, John." Smiled Rose to her date.

"I'm glad. Guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow." Awkwardly, as he had no real experience on how to end a date, which if one was honest, this looked a lot like.

"Can't wait." Said Rose before getting up on her tip toes to kiss the Doctor quickly on his left cheek. The Doctor could not help but put his hand up to his face in surprise after receiving such a tender token of affection. 'Kiss on the second date, not bad for an ugly old guy', the Doctor couldn't help but think as Rose tried to hide a blush after what she considered a bold move, she normally wasn't like this, but she just couldn't help herself when John was involved in seemed. Rose was herself touched by his cute reaction to her chaste kiss. It reminded her of a school boy who just got his first kiss. She'd almost guess that it was his first kiss…or at least his first in a long time. Rose just loved seeing his goofy face smile and couldn't wait to see it again. Rose also thought it better to leave his grinning face wanting, before she said something stupid to spoil the mood, so with a quick wave she disappeared down the stairs to the tube. Little did either of them expect that something was following one of them home.

The Doctor smiled as he went on his way and did not stop smiling until he was back at the TARDIS. The day may have started out like crap, but the second Rose appeared his day improved 100 percent. He wanted to learn everything about her and being in the position of 'power' he was, he could learn a great deal about, but that was enough invasion of privacy just handling her banking issues, which she should soon learn about. No he wanted to continue much the same as he was now, the human way. Wooing, Courtship or anything like it among his kind was dull, boring, and lacking of pretty much any emotion. That wasn't love, life or living, but humans, even restricted and oppressed as they were by his kind, still found a way to live. He'd earn a place in Rose's heart the old fashioned way and the only Tyler he would be doing research on was another. As he also found that he had a little mystery on his hands to solve. What had happened to Rose's father, Peter Allen Tyler?

* * *

**Author's note:**

The Doctor just loves a mystery, stay tuned for the next exciting episode of blah too busy thinking about how next chapter of Complications goes to be witty.


	3. Chapter 3

The Great and Powerful

by The Plot Thinens

Part - III

* * *

'Now that was interesting', thought the Doctor as he looked over the files that he had manage to find on one, Peter Allen Tyler. What was interesting was not so much the files themselves, yet. It was the lengths he had had to go to find them. What 'simple protester' had a quadruple encrypted file history? None he had met before. Guess there really was no such thing as an ordinary human, especially when Rose Tyler, who was no ordinary human herself, was concerned.

The Doctor had decided to take a look at the Time Lord Police records to see what had happened to Rose's father while he was waiting for the new time rooter part he had, ahem, acquire to calibrate to his TARDIS. With that fixed he would be able to go back into time, but not forward, which would be of little use to him at the moment but he was getting closer to full time travel capabilities again. Then it was just a few more repairs to fix all the kinks in his ability to travel in space and he'd be free to escape his gilded cage and see if he couldn't start doing some good in the universe to make up for all the bad his species had done so far.

Now back to the subject of Peter Tyler. Originally the Doctor had just assumed that Mister Tyler had either been killed accidently or intentionally. However when no death record could be found on him, the Doctor began to consider the possibility that he was sent to a penal colony without charges. It wasn't an uncommon practice for dissidence when humans were the offenders. But humans were, as a rule, never transported off world because of their uncanny ability to raise trouble for Time Lords where ever they went. His father thought that their primitive ways were best restricted to the mud of their planet. The Doctor admired the human spirit and wished that his father saw humans as allies instead of enemies.

This being the common thing done, it astonished the Doctor that no record of him was to be found until he started going into the Time Lord data sub frames and then it all came to light. Peter Tyler was anything but an ordinary protester. In fact, if the report he was reading was to be believed, he was the ring leader of an extremely organized failed rebellion. The Doctor was quite impressed. It was the closest he'd seen humans being a possible threat to Time Lord Rule since, well ever. In secret they had gathered alien and Time Lord tech, reverse engineered it, primitively so, but still done a good job, and were on their way to overthrowing the police state that was now Great Britain. This organized rebellion called itself,

"Torchwood" said the Doctor out loud. The Doctor finally had Pete's prison file and let out a sigh of relief, old Pete's status was imprisoned indefinitely, and 'ALIVE'. Warning lights sounded on the TARDIS console and The Doctor saw that the TARDIS was cautioning him that someone was coming close to spotting his activities, so quickly he had the TARDIS memorize the coordinates of the last location that 'Pete' was held and then logged off.

"Delete any trace I was there." The Doctor ordered the TARDIS and it was done. His TARDIS might be old, but she still was much smarter and wiser than any of those younger surviving War TARDISes.

The Doctor then heard an odd noise coming out from the bottom of the console, like the sound of an early Apple II printer and got on his hands and knees to retrieve a much better print out than he would have expected. He pulled off the perforated tabs off the side of the print out and smirked to the TARDIS,

"Feeling nostalgic? You're just as obsessed with old human tech as I am. Don't think I installed that feature, you did that yourself." The TARDIS let out a hum that sounded like she was flippantly agreeing. The Doctor was quite proud of how his TARDIS always managed to make do with the human tech parts he could find and how inventive she got with the potential for tech the Time Lords would pay no attention to. For years the Doctor had played his own people's arrogance against them to acquire what he needed to fix his old girl. The Doctor brought his attention back to the high quality prison mug shot of Peter Tyler.

"Now what am I going to do with this?" Pondered the Doctor to himself as he planned his next move. It wasn't something light to consider here. He was deciding if he was going to try to break in and out of a Time Lord prison with one extra passenger. And once he had him, then what? Pete Tyler would be spotted in a second if he just let him go on the street. Would he even come with him if he showed up? Well that could be avoided if he locked in on his bio signature and just materialized the TARDIS around him, but it wasn't like this man was in a position to trust Time Lords. And what about himself, this was treason. He was ever so close to finishing his TARDIS he should at least be capable of full time and space travel before he even attempted this, but time was not on his side for the meanwhile. And what exactly would he say to Rose?

'Oh hey here is your father back, don't ask how I found him. Oh and Pete please don't tell your daughter that she is dating a Time Lord.' He needed more time to think about this, but he only had a small window here, they might move him from that location to another bio damping field if he waited too long. The bio-signature would only register on the TARDIS' scanners once she was inside the facility. There were so many variables that he would have to make the attempt soon and make it up as he went. Well he was very good at that, maybe it would work out. He heard a dinging noise from his TARDIS not unlike an old 1990 microwave oven, and he knew that the calibration was complete. Well at least he wouldn't be late for a date again now.

* * *

Rose opened the door for the Doctor and grinned

"Two minutes late, not exactly on the dot." The Doctor knew that she was being cheeky but grumbled,

"Sorry, small problem with the TAR…traffic."  
"Oh you have a car?" Asked Rose, she had never seen it before.

"Well a very old one, I have, but no I didn't drive I walked, crossing streams…streets takes time." Stated the Doctor, and Rose laughed,

"Yeah, sometimes it feels like your swimming upstream with all the cars on the road. Come in, um my Mum is here, she wants to meet you. Since you saved my life." Although the Doctor had the ability to go back in time to prevent him from being late now. That had not accounted for him getting horribly lost once he was inside Rose's building looking for her apartment. Not to mention the walk he had to do across the council estate's large property once he realized he was in the wrong building. He'd like to have a chat with the Time Lord who was in charge of the human accommodations department. The layout of this building was anything but obvious.

"Mum is out for the day but she should be by when we get back later…Anyway I'm in a rather pleasant mood." Beamed Rose.

"Do I have something to do with it?" Smirked the Doctor cheekily. Rose invited him in to sit on the couch in her family's small flat and replied,

"Oh, you're the cherry on top of the cake. Turns out some banking mistake or something was made and I didn't owe as much money as was thought. I even have some left over that I got back. You don't know what a burden this is off my shoulders!" Cheered Rose. The Doctor smiled, he was happy to see Rose so relieved and also grinning that he did actually have more to do with her good mood than she thought. He liked helping people again. He'd been so cloistered away for so many years, maybe even afraid to venture out without his TARDIS that he had forgotten how good it felt to help. Though he had to admit that it felt a lot better than normal helping out Rose.

"And now I get to spend the whole day with you atop all this good news…I could just…" Said Rose with glee before spinning around and giving the Doctor a quick peck on the lips. She then looked a bit startled.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me. I should have… I mean I shouldn't have… Oh I'm just going to hide now." Groaned Rose at her own stupidity. The Doctor just laughed and declared,

"A man would have to be crazy not to enjoy a kiss from a beautiful woman, even a too short kiss."

"So you didn't mind?" Questioned Rose for confirmation that she had not been to presumptuous.

"Not in the least, feel free to do that again whenever you like." Assured the Doctor. Rose blushed and said, maybe later today, after our adventure out?"

"Don't see why not." Smirked the Doctor and the two were off.

* * *

The zoo had not been his first choice for an outing but Rose saw the advertised discount on their bus to nowhere in particular. The two had not made plans and had decided to wonder about the city until the plan found them.

"That's it. That's what we'll do today! Are you game, John?" Asked Rose of the Doctor as he scrutinized the image of a lion being nuzzled by a cub with what was assumed to be his lioness nearby. He didn't much care for zoo seeing how the Time Lords treated Rose's species as if they were animals for a zoo instead of sentient beings, but he wanted to please Rose so he agreed.

"Alright, but I get to pick our next adventure." Smirked the Doctor to which Rose nodded. The Doctor and Rose arrived at the London zoo without incident and luckily security was not as severe as that they had found at the museum.

"What's your favorite animal?" Questioned Rose to the Doctor, who without thinking about it let slip an animal from his dead home world. Rose looked confused but then laughed it off and asked him to be serious,

"Ah come on John, I'm serious, let's see your favorite animal first. Unless it's not in the zoo then your second." Rose took John's discomfort at the slips as him feeling too old for the environment. This made Rose feel a little conscientious of their obvious age gap. Maybe her childlike whim to go to the zoo was viewed as too juvenile for him. Looking to alleviate the situation she joked,

"Think of it as a walk in the park with something besides pigeons to look at. We don't have to be a bored married couple with three kids to enjoy a day out at the zoo." Noted Rose a bit low in tone as she hinted at some of the bored parents around them with their hyperactive kids running about. That seemed to make the Doctor smiled, but more for the reason that he seemed to get by unscathed from his slip up. Rose was happy his mood seemed to be lightening and the Doctor looked to his map of the zoo and said,

"Wolves. I like wolves, very sociable pack animals and caring about their family members." Rose grinned back and replied,

"Wolves it is." The two then went off while Rose was making plans to see if the two of them couldn't later find a quiet place in the nocturnal animals exhibit for some alone time.

* * *

As it turned out the nocturnal animal exhibit had not worked out. It was much better lit than would have been thought and kids running by every five seconds ruined any illusion of seclusion, but other than that it had been a fun day.

* * *

Later that that evening Rose and the Doctor found themselves back at the Tyler family flat. The two found themselves lingering outside the apartment entrance. From the smell of tea they could tell that Rose's mother had indeed returned and that fact made the Doctor nervous, a fact that Rose was not blind to. His body language had all the telltale signs of a schoolboy afraid to meet his first crush's folks. She could change that.

"Do you want to come in, John? Smells like there's tea." Rose asked entreatingly, she'd really rather John stay for a bit longer.

"Umm." The Doctor said hesitantly. Rose just gave him her winning smile and laughed,

"Oh come on, Mum's not that bad. She'll probably leave us alone. Could give you a short tour of my room." The Doctor got the hint that a kiss and quiet moment in private was being offered to him, and there would be tea.

"Well, how could I turn down that?" The Doctor grinned as she led him by the hand to the kitchen.

The Doctor's eye darted about in search of the before mentioned mother but to his relief, she seemed to have already retreated to her room. In fact he could hear a hair dryer in the room he assumed belonged to Rose's mother, Jackie, meaning that he might go unnoticed for just a while longer. Rose had him sit down on the pleather sofa in her living room and quickly poured two cups of tea from the kettle. Trying not to seem too eager Rose sat down next to him. The Doctor took a polite sip of his tea and then put down his cup. They shared an awkward moment until Rose decided to be brave and snuggled up against his arm.

"This okay?" Rose asked a little nervous and not making eye contact out of embarrassment. She should have asked first before initiating a cuddle.

"Fantastic." Smiled the Doctor. Very much liking his answer Rose finally looked up at The Doctor and beamed,

"Hello." The Doctor laughed at the simple but appropriate response and replied,

"Hello."

The Doctor just could not stop smiling as he looked in to the young and hopeful eyes of the lovely woman snuggling up to him. He had not felt so alive for so long in his life and the woman made him miss how he used to be more than anything. Maybe he could be romantic and carefree just so long as this fair being would look up into his old blue eyes like she was now. Before he knew what he was doing he found himself inching closer to her lips with his. She wasn't backing away from his advances, in fact it seemed like she was trying to meet him half way. The promise or at least hint of earlier today and this evening outside the flat seemed to be holding true. He was so close now and he closed his eyes as Rose was doing the same.

Then suddenly the Doctor felt his breath taken away…No seriously he was having trouble breathing! The Doctor's eyes slammed open and his respiratory bypass kicked in. There was a plastic hand choking him around the neck and Rose was looking on stunned. Though not for long, Rose got an angry look in her eyes and grabbed at the plastic disembodied hand and yanked it off. Her effort however only led to her being the new chosen victim of the hand. It was grabbing at her face and Rose was trying everything to get it off. Quickly the Doctor reached for his sonic and finding the proper setting soniced the hell out of the arm and it stopped moving.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked and Rose nodded,

"Good, gotta go there might be more." Said the Doctor as he got up and went for the door carrying the now still hand. He noticed the open cat flap. That must have been how it got in.

"Hold on a minute I can help." Protested Rose. The Doctor appreciated the sentiment but he could not have Rose put in danger's way again.

"You'll be safer in here." Declared the Doctor as he swung open the door to the flat only to find the rest of the dummy was on the other side of the door waiting.

"So much for that." Said Rose as the Doctor backed up towards her. The Doctor's back met up with Rose's front as he had gone as far back as he could go in the tiny flat.

* * *

"Suppose you will be wanting this back?" Questioned the Doctor of the dummy as it raised its other hand up high in a repeat of the horror that Rose had suffered but days ago. Quickly the Doctor used the arm he was holding and swung it like a bat at the shop window dummy head. The head came clean off but that did not stop the brute. It started flaring its arms all about in a blind chase of the Doctor and Rose who were making their way over to the door. Rose thought that they were escaping and going to grab her mother, but to her surprise the Doctor seemed more concerned with capturing the dummy head. Once he had it and looked up, he had just enough time to see Rose dive at him and pull him back to the ground soon enough to avoid being decapitated himself. It was then that the two realized that the auto had smashed into the wall just next to the bedroom belonging to Jackie, jamming it shut with a now frantic Jackie bang and shouting through the stuck door,

"Rose, Rose! Is that you?! What doing on are you hurt? Stupid door! Open up, Rose? Rose?!" There was no time for Rose to explain to her mother as the Doctor was pulling Rose out the front door as the dummy was still in hot pursuit.

"But my Mum!" Screamed Rose as the Doctor pulled her out of the way of another swipe of the dummy.

"She'll be fine it's not after her! We gotta run!" Yelled the Doctor as he dragged her down the hall while the dummy chased them.

"Why is it after us?" Inquired Rose of the Doctor.

"It's not after you, it's after me." The Doctor said gruffly.

* * *

The Doctor would have no choice now. This was the last straw, he could not have Auton's after the only friend he'd made in over a century. It was a shame it had to happen this way. He was hoping his charade could last longer than a few days. He had really enjoyed being with this human woman as if he were a human man, but it was all over. He might lose her friendship after this, but if it meant she'd be safe then it would be worth it.

On they ran until they got close to the TARDIS. They had lost the dummy in the maze that was the Powell Estate, but it wouldn't be long before it found them again with the Doctor holding its head to roughly guide the body to their location. As he could see the lights to his TARDIS across the street the Doctor looked back at Rose and said,

"I'm warning you, Rose. My ride is strange." Rose looked confused by the topic and if not for the situation, she might have laughed as she said,

"Quite a time to be talking about your car, John. I don't care if it's messy right now." The Doctor brought Rose up to the blue doors of the TARDIS and pulled out his key before taking one more look at Rose. He wanted to memorize the look she gave to the alien she thought was a human like her. Granted she looked more confused than normal, but he needed to remember that look.

"John, I can see that thing off in the distance! It's coming for us we have to run!" Shouted Rose as the Doctor ignored her warning and stepped inside the TARDIS.

"We can't hide in a wooden box!" Yelled Rose as she stepped inside to pull John out. Only she found that not only was he not standing inside a tiny blue box but he was walking up a ramp in a giant room in a tiny blue box. Shocked and bewildered she stepped out of the box and even though the dummy was edging closer she quickly walked around the box and back inside to narrowly avoid the dummy. She slammed the door behind her and quickly locked it once she saw the simple lock on the inside of the door. She doubted it would do anything since the dummy had made such short work of her flat, but at least she was trying something.

"It's going to follow us!" Warned Rose as the Doctor moved about the TARDIS console attaching the head to some wires.

"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried." Said the Doctor coolly. He was trying to focus on the job that had to be done and not on the opinion or assumptions that were forming in the mind of the stunned woman who had kissed him earlier in the day. Mechanically he pressed on,

"You see, the arm would be too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." The Doctor then tried to look a bit more jovial then he felt to help ease the tension of Rose staring at him like she was seeing him for the first time. She obviously had questions that he was obliged to answer.

"Right. Where do you want to start?" Smiled the Doctor nervously to Rose.

"Er, the inside's bigger than the outside?" Stuttered Rose to the Doctor as she looked around the console room again. The Doctor answered the affirmative.

"It's alien." Questioned Rose with a little fear and nerves on her voice as every warning she ever learned as a child rung in her head. 'If it seems off, it's got to be alien, so get away.' Was roaring in her head, but for all that she couldn't seem to.

"Yeah." Said the Doctor as he walked on eggshells over the subject.

"Are you alien?" Questioned Rose as all the obvious pieces fell in place.

"Yes. Is that all right?" Inquired the Doctor with his arms crossed across his chest as if they might offer him protection from the emotional heart ache that was to follow.

Was that okay? Thought Rose, as she looked into the blue eyes of the alien passing as a human man. The alien that she had been fancying for the short few days. Was this some kind of alien attraction thing he had been using on her for who knows what ends. She knew nothing of aliens other than that they usually brought trouble and danger to humans. And more often than not they did not care about humans or if they got hurt by being in the way of alien business. They were like this big scary boogie man because the Time Lords kept them so in the dark. They never shared information of what other aliens looked like, did all aliens look human? Maybe that was why they just told humans to look for something out of place to spot alien invasions. Well besides the Time Lord one still ongoing.

* * *

The general population had no idea how alien tech worked and nor did they share any of their knowledge with humans either. Anytime a human came up with a new innovation, it had to be scrutinized by the Time Lords that it wasn't too dangerous for humans to have and when it was approved was laughed at for its primitiveness by said aliens. Heck her father had gone missing in a protest probably involving aliens. She had no logical reason to trust or forgive an alien especially one that lied to her. But try as she might when she looked at this alien, it was just John. Even if it was some strange alien hormones drawing her to him, he had not displayed any sort of behavior that was oppressive or controlling. Nothing sinister except for preferring bananas on his pizza. He had just been a regular nice bloke and very accommodating to her adventurous whims. He had obviously withheld information from her, but if his body language was anything to go by and how she had been talking about how much her mother doesn't like 'Off Worlders', it was no wonder he had been keeping quiet about it. He looked just as scared as she probably did. She had certainly not fostered an environment encouraging honesty in that department. Rose probably would not have confessed to being an alien right off the bat to a stranger she just met either. Maybe he might have told her eventually or sooner if she had not voiced her family's grievances with aliens too. She took in a deep breath and came to a conclusion. Was she okay with aliens? Not all aliens. Was she okay with this alien? Yes, it was just John. All she could see was John. She exhaled and replied,

"Yeah." The Doctor let out a breath that he did not know he was holding and smiling, he introduced Rose to his ship as a new energy took over him. She knew he was an alien, not what type, but she had not asked. And was he ever glad that she had not. And Alien and a Time Lord might be too much to forgive.

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Beamed the Doctor as Rose looked over to the console,

"Is that supposed to melt?" Questioned Rose as she looked at the dummy head on the console quickly turning to a puddle of plastic. The Doctor began shouting expletives as he started to work fast, he had let himself become distracted and now his plan might be scrapped. Running around the console he pulled knobs, pushed buttons and levers, as the TARDIS moved and shook. The Doctor then raced out of the TARDIS as soon as it stopped moving and Rose ran after him shouting that it wasn't safe with the dummy out there. Rose followed him outside only to see that they had switched locations. The box had moved! She had heard that some alien ships could move faster than light, and this was definitely proof to her.

"We've moved. Does it fly? How fast does this thing go?" Asked Rose as she looked out onto the river Thames. The Doctor gripped about having been so close to finding the Nestene consciousness finally. The Doctor still disappointed could help but answer a question about his ship.

"She is fast, but we didn't speed fly our way here. We dematerialized and rematerialized here." Explained the Doctor with some pride on his voice. Rose was obviously still confused but opted instead to ask, why did his ship look like a blue box and what exactly was a police public call box?

"It's a telephone box from the 1950s. It's a disguise." Grinned the Doctor as he patted his ship.

"Might still stand out. That was a very long time ago when human time was kept on this planet." Noted Rose as the mention of the no longer used primitive human dating system she learned about in her government provided education. The Doctor looked off into the distance a bit sad remembering the times of the old human system of keeping time.

"Anyway, so what do these alien's want? Are you involved in a turf war with them and that's why they keep going after you?" Questioned Rose. She wanted to get to the bottom of this problem.

"It's definitely a turf war, but I'm on the human side. I don't want these Auton aliens coming in and pushing you around or hurting you." Declared the Doctor with a look in his eyes as if he were the personal protector of Rose Tyler. Rose felt the intensity of his gaze and it was pulling her heart towards this alien man. It was only through realization that her relationship with this man was a bit more complicated than she originally perceived, and that she had much more to learn about John, that she decided to break the mood with some humor.

"Yeah, we got the Time Lords for that." Joked Rose.

The Doctor tried to hide his flinch at her words. He knew he would have to tell her he was a Time Lord soon. He couldn't just suggest rescuing her father and leave that bit of information to be absorbed by her and her father at the same time. He needed to have Rose on his side for what would follow. Convincing her father that there was one Time Lord he could trust would be hard enough if Rose wasn't convinced. But all in good time. Maybe it was cowardly, but he thought that if Rose could accept him as just an alien for awhile then maybe him being a Time Lord when he told her later would not be such a shock. He didn't want to resort to using his plan to rescue her father as a desperate means to spend just a little more time with her, if she rejected his Time Lord heritage. But he was desperate for her company. Even if she only agreed to endure his company for as long as it took them to get her father back it would still be a day's worth of company against the centuries of boredom, loneliness, and rejection that would follow among his own species.

"Anyway, how do we stop these plastic aliens that have been plaguing us? What do they even want?" Questioned Rose. The Doctor held up a tube of blue liquid and grinned,

"It's such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the warring, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth is dinner while it's still tasty! Few more decades and the Time Lords will have erased all the damage to the environment cause by humans. I'm just worried they might go further and make this more of a little Galifrey than in name... But anyway back to the Autons. Glad you asked. I've been holding on to this for a while now, might as well use it as insurance, Anti-plastic."

"Anti-plastic?" Asked Rose, she was sure that it couldn't be that easy a problem, but he was alien.

"Anti-plastic, mostly insurance. I don't plan to use it. If we can make them leave peacefully then all the better. But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" Still not following the Doctor's knowledge of Autons, she inquired what he meant by hiding. Hiding what?

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal." Whined the Doctor as he looked about in vain for a sign from what the partial signal gave them.

"What's it look like? Can't be too hard to miss." Pondered Rose as the Doctor continued,

"Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible." Rose was no genius but after hearing such a description only one object which happened to be right behind John made sense as the likely candidate. Rose hinted and hinted again and again, but the Doctor looked right past the obvious. Duh, it's the London Eye, one of the few human made structures that survived the decommissioning years ago.

"Oh. Fantastic!" Cheered the Doctor as the penny dropped and the two where off to stop an alien invasion.

* * *

All was going well for the Doctor and Rose, so far. Rose had managed to point out the likely location of the Alien stronghold. There in an underground chamber below the London eye and now the Doctor was going to attempt at diplomacy.

"You think it will talk to you?" Questioned Rose as she looked down on the plastic vat life form that took up most of the room in the place.

"I've got to give it a chance." Declared the Doctor. 'I've got to give it the chance that my people won't give it otherwise.' Thought the Doctor. When he had called the Time Lords on the Autons, he had hoped that it was a small scale thing that the Autons were trying to pull, but now he could tell that a full scale invasion was what was on the menu tonight. He had to talk sense into the Nestene Consciousness and get them to leave. His father meant business and he would not allow such a slight to be made against the Time Lords, not on their 'home world'. The Doctor walked down to the vat, leaving Rose to watch from above.

"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" Asked the Doctor and irritated roars answered him.

"Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" More roaring this time angry.

"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights. You know full well that the Shadow Proclamation doesn't mean a bean here in this galaxy. It's Time Lord Law and they won't be as kind to you as I'm trying to be." Escalating Roars interrupted the Doctor and he continued,

"I am talking! These humans have enough trouble on their planet without two alien species fighting for control of the planet. You still have planets that you control, find food there. Maybe somehow a deal could be brokered. But I'm asking you on behalf of the humans. Please, just go." The vat of plastic was quiet for a moment, but then started roaring again.

"John!" Shouted Rose as she noticed that a pair of shop dummies went up behind him and grabbed him. One dummy reached into the Doctor's coat and took out the vial of anti-plastic from his pocket. This did not lighten the Consciousness' mood.

"That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not. What do you mean?" Questioned the Doctor. Rose heard booming outside and wondered what the hell was going on and what that blob of plastic was saying.

"No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's the Time Lords. I didn't call them! That's not true. No that wasn't how things happened. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them! I had nothing to do with what happened next.

"What's it doing?!" Shouted Rose as the wall continued to shake, crumble and the stair leading down to the platform the Doctor was standing all but disappeared into the vat below.

Its' the Time Lords! They found the Nestene on their own and it's identified their superior technology outside. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! The time Lords are going to destroy this place and anything around it. Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!" Warned the Doctor to Rose. Rose almost listened to him, but where would she go? There was no place to run. If there was a way she could free John, then they could try to escape together. Rose noticed that chains hung from what was left of the ceiling everywhere. Her eyes then spotted a set of chains nearby locked to the wall and an ax nearby. If she… Rose didn't give it a second thought. Using the ax she broke the chains free and making use of her short time as a gymnast in her younger days she swung down to the Doctor below and kicked one of the Auton Dummies into the vat along with the vat of anti-plastic. The Consciousness screamed in pain and no sooner had it extinguished the pounding on the wall stopped and instead a large bit of the ceiling started falling to right where the Doctor stood.

"John! Look out!" Shouted Rose and for the third or was it fourth time in that night, Rose saved the Doctor. She managed to push him out of the way, landing on top of him. The two would have been unscathed but unfortunately a large bit of rubble then bounced up after the chunk of ceiling hit the floor and hit Rose in the head.

"Rose!" Shouted the Doctor in fear as he spotted the crimson liquid start trickling from under her blond hair.

It all happened so fast or slow after that in the eyes of Rose. Time Lord Guardsmen and police robots stormed what was left of the chamber and Rose was scared. It was never a good thing when you saw the robots.

"Who are you?! Identify yourself!" They shouted as they ran over to the John and she thought for sure that they were going to take him away. But instead John did the most amazing thing. He started yelling at them and they looked shocked and upset. She was now having even more trouble staying awake as John had rested her down gently to deal with the threat at hand.

"Bloody idiots you almost smashed us!" Shouted the Doctor at the commanding officer.

"Lord Doctor! What are you doing here?" Questioned the guard.

"The same as you morons, but I was going to get it done without anyone getting hurt or killed!" Growled the Doctor in a feral voice that made even the robots quake.

"Sir you will need to come with us for debriefing. We have to know how you found the Auton's first and how they infiltrated our defense." Entreated the guard.

"I'll go when I'm bloody ready. I have got to see to Rose, you bumbling idiots, hurt her!" Roared the Doctor. The guard thought now that this was a joke and hoping this was a chance to lighten the mood he said in an uneasy laugh,

"So what, sir? She's just a human. There are dozens more where she came from."

"Is that anyway to bloody talk about the life saver of the only son of Rassilon?! I would have been crushed dead by you defectively loomed cretins if it wasn't for her!" Foamed the Doctor as the guards finally realized how much they messed up this operation. Completely deferring to the Doctor, they offered their hover transport to the Doctor while they cleaned up their investigation. Remembering himself the Doctor calmed down and pulled his sonic out to scan Rose. She would need treatment and his TARDIS had all the medical supplies he would need. He saw that Rose was having trouble staying awake and he encouraged her to not fall asleep.

"Rose, Rose, can you hear me?! Stay awake, I'm going to help you!" Rose was trying her best to understand what was being shouted at her, but it was no good. She only had time to realize one thing before she slipped into unconsciousness.

"John…you're a Time Lord." She all but whispered as she blacked out.

* * *

Author's Notes: I'd say Rose's life is going to get a whole lot more interesting as soon as she wakes up and the Doctor has 'got some s'plainin' to do!'


End file.
